Red Hill is a site I first went to 10 years ago with my son, Ian who was 10 at the time. It is a very deep road cut into the uppermost part of the Catskill Formation representing a late Fammenian river system that was draining the Acadian mountains to the east and emptying into the inland sea in western PA and OH. It is one of a handful of sites in the world where Devonian tetrapods have been found. The site has fossil layers in both channel margin (red layers) and flood plain (gray-green layers) facies. While it is an active research site and groups go there under the understanding that anything of scientific importance will be donated to the museum, there is a lot there that is redundant in the collections and we've been able to retain. In 2014, Ian found an exceptionally preserved moderately large osteolepiform, Hyneria (Tristichopteridae). Some of the material went into the re-description of Hyneria, much we have been allowed to take home. Since then the project has expanded to a search for more tetrapod material using the jackhammer and generator the museum purchased. This may require multiple posts.
I'll start with the jaws recovered over 2014/15 seasons. This lens containing most of the head from apparently a single individual.
Here Ian is working with Ted Daeschler and Doug Rowe (site manager) of the Academy Of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
Here are some images of the jaw material after removal and after prep by Fred Mullison of the ANSP. Lower left jaw after removal.
This is the lower right jaw (right) and the vomer and very impressive fang.
Amazingly, in 2016, we went back. I was leading a trip for DVPS. Ian found this amazing but poorly prepped jaw (I did this one).
Here are a pair of cleithrums, about 29 cm long. The attachments for the scapulocoracoid are clearly visible between 17 and 21 cm.
Here is part of the parietal shield.
More to follow.